Object Image

Chessmen (32)

The pieces on the buff side are portraits of the military leaders on the German side in the first World War; the black side represents the opposing Allied leaders. The pawns are fighting men in various uniforms. The set was evidently made after the entry of America into the war in 1917. Max Nicolaus Niemeier (b. 1876) was a portraitist of the German school. A board of inlaid wood is en suite with the set.

Credit: Gift of Gustavus A. Pfeiffer, 1948...

1917
Pear wood
9.2cm
48.174.169a-p, aa-pp, q
Image and text © Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2019

Where you'll find this

The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Permanent collection